This nine-minute video describes the unique role that emergency department (ED) professionals can play in preventing suicide by providing five brief interventions prior to discharge.

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Emergency Departments

Individuals in a suicidal crisis often seek help at a hospital emergency department (ED). EDs also frequently provide care for people with other risk factors for suicide, such as serious mental illness, substance use disorders, and chronic pain. The ED visit is an important window of opportunity, however brief, to intervene and save lives.

Why Address Suicide Prevention

The risk of a suicide attempt or death is highest within 30 days of discharge from an ED or inpatient psychiatric unit.1

Up to 70 percent of patients who leave the ED after a suicide attempt never attend their first outpatient appointment.1

Approximately 37% of individuals without a mental health or chemical dependency diagnosis who died by suicide make an ED visit within a year of their death.2

The Suicide Prevention Resource Center at EDC is supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), under Grant No. 5U79SM062297.

The views, opinions, and content expressed in this product do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of CMHS, SAMHSA, or HHS.